i built a 454 to replace the missing 396 that was in my '68 El Camino SS, I put 11:1 pop up pistons in and liked the power so I milled the heads and needed to run Cam 2, I figured if I was paying $3.00/gallon for 110 octane leaded then I might as well go all out so I bored it .125 over and added 14:1 domed pistons and that did it. The car was 4 speed so the only way to start it was to pull/pop start it because it wouldn't hardly crank over. Long story short it blew up, the cylinder wall split between # 3 & 5. .125 is too much overbore, that lesson cost me about two grand to find out. Funny now 87 octane costs $3.00+. and I'm not that old. Oh yea it didn't blow up right away, first thing to break loose were the tires so I added slicks and custom bodywork, then the wheel studs snapped, new axles fixed that, then the driveshaft twisted itself into a pretzel, I fixed that and then the flywheel bolts sheared off, once all the weak links were fixed it pulled pretty good. I'll have to dig out some old time slips from Lebanon Valley and Epping. It only ran 12 seconds but it would yank the wheels off the ground on the shift to 2nd gear. Pretty fast for a 3800 pound car with a 200# driver.

Last edited by e.alleg on Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Getty gas was always the cheapest; ~$1.50 for premium when I was a teenager. Cam2 was sold at at the speed shop, $3 for 110 leaded, they also had 116 I think Back in the good 'ol days when I spent all day digging up used tires so I could smoke them off at cruise night, and in the late 80's/early 90's there was a cruise night somewhere just about every night.

I hate to admit it, but I was at a Sunoco station in Lavalette, NJ (the shore) getting Sunoco 260 for my '56 Bel Air and I couldn't believe the price they were charging. 75 cents a gallon! Things were always more expensive at the shore in the summer, I thought "That will be the day when I have to pay this much for 260 back home"!